MEDITATION PART 1: WHY WE MEDITATE

The purpose of meditation is to become more connected to ourselves. To embrace and dive deeper into the experience of ourselves in the present moment.

This allows us to to feel calm, aware, present, and in touch with who we are beyond our minds. Yes, when our minds are running a mile a minute in circles and we can’t seem to get a grip on where we want to go or how we want to move forward, we can let go of our minds and come to rest on ourselves in the present moment. Powerfully aware and focused.

Meditation trains us to do this. It brings fluidity and ownership to our consciousness. We can move it at will. And become masters of our state of being.

What I experience through meditation has become the foundation of my life.
SEPARATE VS CONNECTED
Most of us go through our lives feeling separate. Separate from each other, separate from the world around us, and ultimately separate from ourselves. This is because most of the time we experience life though our minds. Our mind separates us from an experience in order to understand it.

For example, hold your favorite mug. When you hold it, you understand that it is called a mug; it is used for drinking hot liquids; that it was given to you by a special person; and that the special person’s birthday is coming up and you want to buy them something really sweet.

All these associations can happen because the mind separates us from the experience of holding the mug. This allows us to be logical, rational, to communication ideas, and to learn from the past and plan into the future. Very helpful for the survival of humanity! And yet, if this is the only way we experience the world, our experience will be one of being separate.

So how do we experience being connected? Diving into something to understand it as opposed to separating from it? The modality we can use to be connected to our own experience in the present moment is sensation.

Sensation is any quality that you feel in your body such as buzzing, tingling, warmth, churning, expansion, contraction, tightness, or pins and needles.

In the mug example, the sensation of holding the mug is that it feels smooth and warm in your hand.

EXPLORE SENSATION
Shake your hands really quickly. Then stop and feel them. Now do it again. Now stop and feel them. Can you feel the sensation? Clap your hands. And feel the sensation. Throw your hands up in the air and yell! And feel the sensation.

When you are just feeling the sensation, you are in the present moment. Now if you start analyzing what you feel based on what you know, you are no longer in the moment.

How long can you stay feeling the sensation without thinking? It’s a challenge!

PRACTICE IN PAIRS
You can practice feeling the sensations in your body with a friend.

Take turns going back and forth noticing sensations in your own body.

Person A: Right now, I feel tightness in my chest.
Person B: Right now, I feel tightness in my shoulders.
Person A: Right now, I feel warmth in my belly.
Person B: Right now, I feel fluttering in my stomach.

The sensation may change. And it may stay the same. Allow it to be what it is.

Set a timer. See if you can go for 2 minutes. Or 5 minutes!

Share your experiences afterwards.

MEDITATION
Resting on sensation is what allows us to stay present in mediation. Anytime a thought comes up, let it go and move back into the sensation.

And the sensation will change. Let it! This begins the great exploration!

At the beginning, you might find your practice is to let go of the mind and keep going back to the sensation. In time, you will find you can rest in the sensation for longer and longer. An inner stillness is cultivated.

In stillness, our consciousness will dive deeper into the sensation. As our consciousness dives deeper, our experience of ourselves also becomes deeper. And more subtle. We move from a grosser, more physical orientation to a more subtle, spiritual orientation.
POINT OF FOCUS
In order to dive deeper, we also need to have a point of focus. The sensation of our breath, a mantra, or in our third eye, or our heart can all be a point of focus for our awareness.

You can use different energy centers in the body as the point of focus and see how your experience changes with each center. What’s it like to place awareness between your eyebrows (Third Eye) for 10 minutes? Then the center of your chest (Heart Center)? Then the your low belly below your navel (Dan Tien in Chinese traditions)? How is it the same? How is it different?

To help keep you focused, you can constrict the back of your throat creating an ocean sound and breathe into the area you are focusing on.

Remember, the sensation will change. In the beginning you might feel a buzzing or warmth, then you might feel a tingling, then maybe a feeling of expansion. Just allow yourself to flow with the experience. The deeper you go, the more subtle and expanded the experience.

If you find yourself in your thoughts, come back to the point of focus.

AWAKEN
The point of this practice ultimately is to awaken to ourselves! Who are you beyond who you think you are?

Have fun exploring!

YOU CAN READ PART II HEREMeditation Part 2: Posture Matters
Learn how to have a supported and comfortable base and an aligned and open center allowing you to dive into your practice.

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